Index 70

Preface

Revisions

Revision 4.1 5/1/1998

This is the original version of the Technical Reference document. The COSMOS Technical Reference was formed from material from the COSMOS User’s Guide (version 3.3), along with material created in the development of COSMOS versions 3.2 through 4.1. The following table describes the layout of material in the COSMOS version 4.1 User’s Guide and Technical Reference, compared with the layout of material in the COSMOS version 3.3 User’s Guide.

Chapter	User Guide V3.3	User Guide V4.1	Technical Reference
1	Introducing COSMOS	Introducing COSMOS	Introduction (new material)
2	Understanding COSMOS Basics	Understanding COSMOS Basics	Function Point Model (new material and UG V3.3 Appendices D, E, & F)
3	Managing Stand-Alone Models	Managing Stand-Alone Models	COCOMO Model (new material and UG V3.3 Appendices D, F, & G)
4	Managing Projects	Managing Projects	Rayleigh Model (new material and UG V3.3 Appendices D & H)
5	Using Advanced COSMOS Features	Managing Systems	Project (new material)
6	Printing	Using Advanced COSMOS Features	System (new material)
7	–	Printing	N/A
A	COSMOS System Messages	COSMOS System Messages	N/A
B	Troubleshooting	Troubleshooting	N/A
C	INI File Entries	References	N/A
D	Formulae	N/A	[Material now in TR Chapters 2, 3, and 4]
E	Differences in Function Point Terminology	N/A	[Material now in TR Chapter 2]
F	Complexity Assignment Guidance	N/A	[Material now in TR Chapters 2 and 3]
G	COCOMO Phase Distribution	N/A	[Material now in TR Chapter 3]
H	The Rayleigh Model	N/A	[Material now in TR Chapter 4]
I	References	N/A	References
	Glossary	Glossary	Glossary

Notices

This product is provided as "freeware". Any use or sale for profit is strictly prohibited.

Disclaimers

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

This software and its manuals are being provided "as is" without warranties as to performance. This program is being provided without any express or implied warranties whatsoever. Because of the diversity of conditions and hardware under which this program may be used, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. Any liability of the provider is limited exclusively to product replacement.

Acknowledgements

This document contains material that has been extracted from the International Function Point User’s Group (IFPUG). It is reproduced in this document with permission of IFPUG.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Purpose of COSMOS

The Software Cost Modeling System, orCOSMOS, was created to produce estimates of the effort and schedule required for software development projects. To accomplish this goal, COSMOS combines techniques that have hitherto been described and implemented separately. The result is a collection of models into a single package. These models collectively describe and characterize, orquantify, the parameters that most affect the required effort and schedule for a development project. This is true for most development projects, since the techniques employed by COSMOS are as independent of specific implementation technology and design details as possible. Of course, there are special cases and niche projects that COSMOS will fail to forecast with the accuracy produced for mainstream software development. “Your mileage may vary”.